


What's in a Name?

by echoflowertea



Series: Open Requests [24]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Female Reader, Reader Is Not Frisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echoflowertea/pseuds/echoflowertea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While cleaning out your place, Sans stumbles on something that changes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name?

**Author's Note:**

> **prompt** :  
> 

_Sneeze._

“WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE DUSTING? AREN’T YOU KEEPING UP AT ALL?”

You groaned in response to his chiding. “Sorry, Paps. I get busy with other stuff and sort of put it on the backburner.”

Spring cleaning was one of your least favorite activities _ever_. Okay, so maybe you should’ve spent more time maintaining your place every once in a while. But between work, play and – outright laziness – you just didn’t make it quite as a priority as Papyrus did. When he heard that you needed to clean everything out and organize your things, he was the first one to jump on the task. Clutter made him anxious and he would probably sleep better at night if he knew that he’d contributed to helping you out this way.

You were grateful for him, though. Because as harsh as his words were sometimes, there was a bit of truth to them. And he really was efficient. His strength and eye for detail made it a lot faster in getting rid of junk and keeping actually significant, sentimental things. He put his foot down when you tried to convince him that the cool soda can you got from an airport was _not_ worthy of sticking around your place for another year.

“heh heh heh.”

Ugh. Sans??? What was he up to? You swore that you needed to keep a leash on him sometimes from the way he wandered off and caused trouble.

“You BETTER not be doing anything weird!” you called from your spot. Hands on your hips. Your boyfriend said that he wanted to help you out, but you knew better than that. He was probably reading an old magazine you had stuffed away somewhere.

“did you really have a crush on this guy?”

HOLY SHIT! You dropped the dustpan, earning a frustrated cry from Papyrus. Trying to seek him out. You finally found him lounging around on your computer chair and peering at an old relic from high school.

“Sans. Give me. The yearbook.” You stepped forward threateningly.

“can’t ever picture him as being your _type._ ”

“It was years ago.” You were a little annoyed at how invasive he was being, but flattered that he was this jealous.

“he looks like he was a bad kisser.”

“Ugh!!!”

You managed to wrestle it out of his hands and clutch it to your chest, embarrassed beyond belief. You knew that he did this just to fluster and get a rise out of you, but you would play along, too. Because the both of you knew that there was no one else in the _entire_ world that you would rather be with right now.

“So are you just going to invade my privacy or actually help?”

“hey, i’m helpin’. helpin’ distract ya.”

You chuckled and kissed him on the mouth to shut him up. He accepted it gladly, still grinning even when you pulled away. You tossed the yearbook into a nearby box of stuff you wanted to keep and left him to get back to…whatever it was that he was doing.

You heard the doorbell ring and jumped up to answer it. You weren’t expecting anybody else, so who…?

“HAHA! Just kidding, I’ve got a KEY!” Undyne shoved her way inside and her eye lit up at the sight of your surprised expression. “What, Papyrus didn’t tell you he called for BACKUP? Said this place was such a DISASTER he needed more elbow grease!!! (Whatever that means?!)”

You really didn’t think it was that bad. Ouch.

“Hey, d-don’t feel bad. You should’ve seen my lab before Papyrus got to it!” Alphys chimed cheerfully. “It was a lot of w-work, but now I can actually find everything I’m looking for! Err…well I did, but then last weekend we had an all-nighter and maybe I m-might need to borrow him again…”

That was a little more of a relief. You let them inside and tried to explain the vision you had. Less trash, more room for everything. A brighter place that was actually halfway decent for company. Between the blackout curtains (for privacy issues) and some overflowing trashcans, it did need a little bit of TLC. You supposed you couldn’t complain if your friends were taking time out of their day to help you out.

Alphys had on a little bandana and brought her own broom to sweep everything up. A total cutie. She was always so adorable? Undyne seemed to regard her with the same amount of admiration as the both of them talked and laughed while they stuck to one room together. You were really glad that they managed to get together, it was hard to imagine them not dating.

You headed back to your room and found Sans standing there.

“What did you find now?” you asked, grabbing a stack of old drawings you’d done. Doodles that no one had a right to look at any more, unless they wanted their eyes to bleed.

“a card.”

“Hmm?” You saved stuff from over the years. Thank you notes, holiday themed stuff, things for just…whatever. So you were a nostalgic person, big deal.

“Mind if I take a look?”

He handed it off to you and you grinned. Something from when you a youngin’. A little kid. A birthday card! On the front was a picture of a cartoon dragon – or something similar – that read something along the lines of, “Here’s hoping you have a _monster_ of a birthday!” Maybe Sans found it a little insensitive, but he didn’t seem like the picky type. At least, not that you’d ever noticed before.

“right there. on the inside.”

It was signed by your family. You scanned over it and fixated on the nickname penned in loving cursive.

“Oh.”

He lifted his browbones at you. “yeah.”

You glanced at him, back at the card, then started giggling. “This is soooo embarrassing!”

“monster baby?”

“My dad gave me the nickname when I was a kid.” 

You shrugged and tried not to bring yourself to tears reading such a heartfelt note. Who knew how long this had been in here? Well, you could’ve done the math judging by the year printed in the top right corner, but you really didn’t want to go that far. 

“I was a pretty big handful back then, but lots of fun. Not really…the type to misbehave, but I definitely gave them a run for their money.” You laughed. “Like. I used to really make him laugh and I wasn’t like other kids he’d been around. So I guess he picked something that reflected that.”

“s’real…adorable.”

“Sans?”

His tone was so soft. When you looked at him, his pupils were blown wide into hearts. He reached for the card and mulled over it, scanning over the words over and over again. Letting them sink in and grinning like no other.

“Whoa, you really dig it that much?”

“hell yeah.” He chuckled. “you got any idea what this means?”

“Um…no?”

“you went from monster baby…to bein’ a monster’s _baby._ ” He winked.

UGH. You snorted despite yourself, snatching the card away. He tried to get it back from you halfheartedly, reaching up to snatch it from your hands held high above your head. He ended up pushing you backwards onto your bed, a squawk leaving your throat when you both went down hard. Sans straddled you and finally grabbed the card back, opening it up to peer at the signature and bringing himself to tears from laughing so hard.

The both of you were so busy flirting and wrestling with each other that you hadn’t noticed Papyrus come into the room.

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? I HAVE THE DISTINCT FEELING THAT THIS IS NOT CLEANING!!!”

Sans stopped squirming and looked over. “hey bro, wanna hear somethin’ cute?”

“IS THIS ANOTHER TRICK TO DISTRACT ME FROM COMPLETING MY MISSION?”

Mission? You didn’t deserve him.

“nah. we’re talkin’ childhood nicknames.”

“OH, NICKIES??? COUNT ME IN! NYEH HEH HEH, SCOOT OVER!”

Papyrus abandoned all of his attention on whatever he was doing and crawled in the bed to join you. Sans handed him the card and explained everything you told him before. It was…flattering to know that he was paying so much attention. And the amount of softness to his voice was enough to make your heart swell.

“OH, THAT IS QUITE INTERESTING HOW THINGS ENDED UP THIS WAY. YOUR FATHER REFERRING TO YOU AS A MONSTER AND NOW YOU ARE DATING ONE! I GET IT!”

“Um…yeah.” You flushed. “Did you guys have any…nicknames growing up?”

“YES! I HAD ONE FROM SANS.”

“bro.”

“WHAT?”

“no.”

You frowned and pushed him slightly. “What? You can gush over mine, but I can’t do the same?”

“it’s embarrassing.”

“No it isn’t. I’m your girlfriend. I love this type of stuff. It’s adorable.”

“nah.” Sans stood up and readjusted his jacket, his face blossoming with color. “just respect that, will ya?”

You weren’t sure why he was getting so upset all of a sudden, but you wouldn’t pry. Not when he was this defensive. “Fine. Whatever.”

Sans shook his head and left the room. Papyrus concentrated hard, finger on his chin, tapping it rhythmically.

“I AM NOT SURE WHY HE WOULD THINK IT WAS EMBARRASSING. BUT I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD MOVE ON SO HE DOES NOT GET TOO ANGRY. ANYWAY!!! MY NICKIE FOR SANS WAS THAND!”

“ _Thand?”_ You couldn’t believe it. He had to have been pulling your leg. You flopped backwards onto the pillows and felt your SOUL nearly leave your body.

“YES! I MEANT IT AS ‘SAND’, BUT IT CAME OUT THAT WAY BECAUSE I HAD QUITE THE SPEECH IMPEDIMENT WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. SHOCKING, I KNOW, CONSIDERING HOW ARTICULATE I AM NOW. THE EXTRA ‘S’ TO HIS NAME SOUNDED AWFUL. SO UNTIL I GOT OVER IT, I ALWAYS REFERRED TO HIM AS ‘THAND’! BECAUSE WE HAD A TINY SANDBOX THAT WE PLAYED IN AND HE MADE THE BEST CASTLES! AND I…DID NOT KNOW ANY BETTER.”

Oh. Your heart. You couldn’t imagine the both of them, tiny little skeleton monsters, digging around with buckets and shovels. They would’ve been dressed in bright, striped play clothes to discern them as kids. Growing up in the same household and spending their days learning all about the world together. Ugh, you needed pictures of that immediately.

“HE WAS QUITE THE ARCHITECT, EVEN WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER. I THINK IT HAD TO DO WITH HIS SCIENCY SIDE? BUT HE KNEW THE PERFECT CONSISTENCY FOR WATER AND SAND TO MAKE GRAND BUILDINGS WHERE WE COULD PUT MY ACTION FIGURES IN.”

You couldn’t take much more of this.

“WE PLAYED PRETEND QUITE A BIT. I WAS ALWAYS THE BRAVE SOLDIER SLASH KNIGHT THAT SAVED VARIOUS PEOPLE FROM TROUBLE. SANS DID THE VOICES BECAUSE HE WAS VERY GOOD AT THEM. I DID THE SOUND EFFECTS. WANT TO HEAR MINE FOR A BUBBLING BROOK?” He did it without waiting for your response, and it was so uncanny you just gaped at him for a moment.

You wondered what else you could learn about him in the upcoming months. He wasn’t too keen on it now, but things could change down the line. Papyrus lifted himself up from the bed and did the same to you, depositing you on the ground and readjusting the apron wrapped around his waist. It was part of his “cleaning body”, or so he told you.

“WELL, WE HAD BETTER GET BACK TO IT. I HAVE A FEW BOOKS THAT NEED TO BE TOSSED OUT. THEY ARE QUITE OFFENSIVE.”

“What?! What kinda stuff is it?”

“MEDICAL TEXTBOOKS WITH LEWD PICTURES OF SKELETONS. I THINK SANS GAVE THEM TO YOU AS A JOKE? IT’S STILL GROSS.”

Pfft. Oh, Papyrus.

The both of you left and joined the others in the living room.

It was a grueling process. You had a lot more crap that you didn’t need than you thought. But everyone really did pull their own weight. Sans even pointed to a huge stack of filled-to-the-brim trashbags that sat in the corner of the room when prompted by his brother to explain just what he thought he was doing lounging on the couch. How he managed to do that without anyone noticing, you would never know.

Between the vacuuming, dusting, washing and airing out of the apartment, you were exhausted. And you needed a shower, because you’d been sweating and digging around in dirty clothes. Still. It all got done within the day, and while the sun still barely lingered over the horizon, you were glad to say that you were proud of your place.

“You’re having us over for a party sometime this week!” Undyne shouted between mouthfuls of water. She was trying to stay hydrated. “So we can WRECK IT UP! This doesn’t look like your place AT ALL!”

“Hey, low blow!”

Alphys giggled and passed the tray of snacks you made for them. “S-so…why were you and Papyrus laughing earlier?”

“Oh my gosh, he was telling me about nicknames.”

Sans was surprisingly quiet. Eyes closed. Pretending to sleep. You knew his tells, he was just avoiding the conversation altogether.  

“N-nicknames?”

Papyrus went on a giant spiel about the one that you had.

Alphys thought it was hilarious. “O-oh my god. That’s so weird? I mean!!! Not like _bad_ weird, but funny? I-I’ve never heard of humans using ‘monster’ as a good thing. Your dad s-sounds really cool?”

That meant a lot to you. “Yeah, I guess it is a little out of the ordinary.”

Undyne, on the other hand, was too busy trying not to squeal into her hands. “DON’T LOOK AT ME!” she shouted, forcing everyone to tear their eyes away. “Why would you TELL me this??? As if you could get any more ADORABLE??? NGGGAAAAHHH HUMANS ARE SO ANNOYING!!!”

That caused a ripple of laughter throughout the group. You knew that she was secretly into cutesy things, like that cherry-themed bathroom she had in her house (complete with shower curtains, rugs and paintings on the wall), but this was too much. She and Alphys were already whispering to each other about you and Sans, judging by the way they glanced at the both of you back and forth and stifled their gushing.

“W-when I was growing up, my parents called me ‘Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum’.”

“AHAHAHA! WHAT???” Undyne tackled her girlfriend into a hug. “SERIOUSLY? You never told me that!!!”

“I kind of forgot about it until now. I u-used to be really into, um…well! You know those picture books that used to fall Underground? B-because we realized that they were dumping old stuff from an orphanage that closed down? There was this one about a boy a-and a beanstalk…I thought it was so cool. I wanted to find a special seed that I could use…to grow…and then climb all the way up to the surface.” Alphys tried to hide her blushing face, but Undyne pried her hands away and peppered her face with kisses.

You popped another piece of fruit in your mouth. “Kind of a long one, though.”

“U-ugh, I know. And they would sing it, too! Just like in the book! I got a really big kick out of it, though, back then…things w-were easier.” She smiled sadly.

“Mine was pretty lame. It was just ‘Sharky’.”

“SHARKY?” Papyrus hooted with laughter. “I DON’T UNDERSTAND?”

“Because apparently some people in school thought I looked like a SHARK!” Undyne grinned and showed off her rows of serrated teeth, beaming. “I used to be pretty SCARY back then, always trying to find something to beat up to protect other people! We found this old videotape about sharks and they said it looked JUST like me. I don’t really get the resemblance now that I know what kinda animals they are…I mean, they’re pretty much HARMLESS unless they mistake people for food.” She shrugged. “And I DEFINITELY wouldn’t let my kids EAT EACH OTHER. If we have any. I MEAN IF I DID!!!”

She glanced at Alphys, horrified for her slip up, but her girlfriend just lightly punched her in the shoulder with a heavy blush. What you wouldn’t give to hear their conversation about it later.

“ANYWAY. Monster baby is SO MUCH COOLER.” She snickered.

“W-what about you, Sans?”

He didn’t budge from his spot, nor give Alphys a sign that he’d heard her at all. Kind of rude, but you knew that this was a sore subject for some reason. Instead, you nudged Papyrus in the ribs and encouraged him to take the lead for this one.

You listened to Papyrus’ passionate explanation and zeroed in on your boyfriend. He was trying to slip away unnoticed. While the rest of them were distracted, you decided to follow him to see what was up.

He ended up in your room. Flipping through the card again. Staring at it thoughtfully. Rolling it around in his hands and peering down at the cartoon like it was about to spring to life and start speaking with him. Why was he regarding it with such wonder? Yeah, you understood that it was really sweet and you loved it, but this was something that seemed to really touch him. As if his entire world had changed after hearing this about you.

You went to touch his shoulder, to let him know you were here, when you heard his monotone voice reverberate through the room.

“y’know…now that i’m older…kinda sucks realizin’ that my nickname for my bro wasn’t anythin’ special.”

You bit your lip and moved so you were in front of him. He refused to look at you.

“he deserved a lot more than me.”

“How can you say that? He loves you so much.”

“i know. but i was always wrapped up in somethin’.” He shrugged. “he took care of me more n’ anybody. we were happy. then i had to step up to make sure we were always above water.”

“Sans…”

He glanced up from the card and into your eyes. “stuff like this. it means a lot. because you had so many other people rootin’ for ya, y’know? you had people that saw who you were and loved ya for it. cherished ya for it. put…effort into things. into you.”

You understood what he was getting at. Sans and Papyrus were never…very forthcoming about their pasts, at least not about the time before they moved to Snowdin and started anew. All you could piece together was that Sans used to work with Alphys for the Royal Scientists. An elite group of people who researched and experimented on the crown’s behalf. Something happened and soon it was just Alphys who took the weight of the responsibility, and no one else could recall who it’d been before.

But Sans was always taking the burden of something on himself. He was the older brother and would die for Papyrus. He never smothered him or crushed his dreams and decisions, respecting him enough to act as his own person. He was always busy. Taking on multiple jobs to make ends meet. Keeping people’s spirits up so that they wouldn’t fall into complete melancholy. Filling his schedule with event after event so he wasn’t sucked down into something that would’ve consumed him completely.

You knew what that was like, too.

“What does this have to do with nicknames?” you prodded. “I know that you…feel guilty about not paying Papyrus enough attention, but you see how much he respects and loves you. He idolizes you, Sans.”

“s’about…how things could’ve gone differently.” He rubbed at his skull and looked like he was having difficulty processing this. “if maybe…i’d switched it up, and put effort…if we could’ve resolved some things before they got to a bad point.”

He was being vague again. You knew that your boyfriend was a mysterious kind of monster. He didn’t like being transparent with his true feelings or what he’d been through. And you knew that it hurt him to do that to you, but you were never going to think lesser of him for it.

“Sans…”

“i mean, you n’ me don’t even have nicknames for each other. never even thought about it. and you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

You put a hand on his cheek and kissed him.

He blinked rapidly a few times but returned it wholeheartedly. You couldn’t gauge his expression since your eyes slid shut, but you guessed he was in a state of mild confusion and utter adoration. He gripped at the sleeve of your shirt before angling his head further, slipping his tongue in and letting out a grunt of approval when you deepened it. Lost in each other. The laughter from the living room fading into nothingness, his SOUL glowing in the center of his chest and creating a bright, white light that seeped past your eyelids.

“If I wanted a nickname, I would’ve asked you for one.”

“but you shouldn’t have to.”

“So what? You call me babe all the time. That counts.”

“every human uses that, it’s lazy as hell.”

“Well, you coined the term lazy, didn’t you?”

He grinned. “guess so.”

“So…what kind of nickname do you want from me? What about the one that the bunny from Underground used? Sansy, right?”

“heh heh heh.”

“You like that? What about…Snas. Because autocorrect always messes your name up in my phone.”

“no, not that.”

“Okay. ‘Sans the Skeleton, the Most Magnificent and Sexy Monster Ever to Walk the Earth’?”

“now yer gettin’ it.”

“Hmm, okay. And what would you use for me?”

He drew you down so he could whisper it in your ear. But it never came, because he planted a hard, heavy smooch on your cheek instead. It was slimy and everything, and he did it on purpose just so you would freak out and rub away at it.

“Aaah! Gross!”

“heh, ok. gross. that’s what i’m puttin’ in your phone.”

“WAIT! Your phone!” You gasped. “What am I listed as in your contacts? Maybe that can help you decide.”

He started to sweat. “uh. no. let’s not.”

“Come on, it can’t be that bad. Unless…you didn’t put anything in it at all.” That would’ve been kind of a bummer.

“nah, it’s…” He sighed wearily. “dumb.”

“Saaaaans! Please???”

He handed it to you without a word. You typed in his password and scrolled down through his contacts. There was a bunch of weird stuff in here that you didn’t understand, but a lot of them were straightforward. Toriel was listed as “Too Punny”, Papyrus as “Best Bro”, Undyne being “Sounds Fishy”, and Alphys simply labeled “Nerd”. Pfft. You laughed at all of them. Because as minimal as they were, it just _screamed_ Sans. He was never about going into much detail about how he felt or what his relationships entailed.

You stopped at yours.

Looked up at him.

Face red.

“ _Mine_?”

“yeah…” He trailed off. “told ya. it’s. dumb.”

Mine.

Sans wasn’t a selfish person. He gave everything he had to other people. He helped Papyrus create costumes. He played along with him when he made puzzles. Back Underground, he gave his brother the bigger room and even built him that racecar bed so he had something cool to sleep in at night. He studied mechanics to maintain his brother’s car. He visited Toriel’s school to make the kids laugh with magic shows that had them in stitches. He collaborated with Alphys on scientific journal publications to tweak all of her informal additions to papers that otherwise would’ve been rejected by committees. He created an entire studio for Undyne so she could record her piano pieces and distributed copies of her CD at the local music festival without even being asked to.

And this person, who was so unabashedly for others’ freedom and cared silently and lovingly, thought of you as his?

As his _only_?

That he didn’t want to share? That he saw you, a single human in the entire world, as someone worth claiming before anyone else could? How he respected you enough not to stretch the limits of your relationship, but that you meant so much that he couldn’t bear the thought of losing you? That he would keep you close because you were the first and only person that he could see himself loving for the rest of his life?

You shook your head. “I can’t…believe you.”

“i know.”

“No, that you _think_ this isn’t enough. Sans? I’m at a really big disadvantage, because this is too much. Like. I feel like I’m gonna start crying?”

“uh, what? s-shut up?”

He stuttered This was perfect. You were never going to let him live this down.

“I love you.”

“i…love you, too.” He was blushing.

“Come on. Let’s go back out there. We’re telling everybody.”

Strangely enough, he didn’t protest.

Weeks later, you were hanging out at their house and searching for a pen you dropped, you found a drawing stuffed away in the corner of Sans’ room. Judging by the shaky crayon, it was something he’d done as a kid.

You smoothed it out on the bed and stared at it. It was a really hilarious portrait of him and Papyrus together. Standing on the surface with stars across the sky, a rocketship soaring along in with a jagged stream of light behind it, the moon bright and wide with a smile on its cratered face. The sky was colored a dark blue and the grass a lush green, with flowers blooming along their feet.

You traced your hand over the scribbly handwriting along both of the figures.

_Thand._

He had on a yellow and white striped shirt. A big beam on his face and standing triumphantly with an astronaut helmet in his hand.

_Pappers._

With a flowing cape, superhero outfit and big thumbs up. Black and green striped shirt. A gap between his teeth and proud grin.

Ugh. Stupid adorable skeleboyfriend.

The picture ended up framed in the living room the next morning, your card settled in next to it.

**Author's Note:**

>  **please comment**! your words mean so much to me.
> 
> consider [donating](http://ko-fi.com/A258IM#_=_)!


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